A second frenetic, drama-laden conclusion to the league phase briefly disguised concerns over an all-too-familiar tale with the modern-day Champions League.
Seven of the top eight ranked inside the top ten of the Swiss Ramble’s 2024–25 ’Money League’. Sporting CP were the only outlier, and they required a stoppage-time winner on the final day to sneak in. Of those seven, five ply their trade in the revenue-haven that is the Premier League.
The system is set up to appease and favour the elite, with the gulf in revenue streams between those competing at the very top and the rest only widening due to its persistent (and designed) reinforcement.
There’s more money to go around, thus aiding every single competitor, but the cash earned by those at the very top is only facilitating a ’virtuous cycle’ and likely to lead to a cynical predictability within a sport that has forever captured the imagination due to its capacity to bewilder.
Here’s an overview of roughly how much each club has made after the league phase.
2025–26 Champions League Revenue After League Phase
| Rank | Club | Prize Money | Estimated Value Pillar Payment | Estimated Total Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Bayern Munich | €38.2 million | €43 million | €100 million |
| 2. | Man City | €32.9 million | €45.4 million | €97 million |
| 3. | Liverpool | €35.8 million | €42.5 million | €97 million |
| 4. | Arsenal | €40.6 million | €37 million | €96 million |
| 5. | Chelsea | €33.5 million | €39.9 million | €92 million |
| 6. | Barcelona | €33.8 million | €36.3 million | €89 million |
| 7. | Tottenham | €34.8 million | €31 million | €84 million |
| 8. | PSG | €19.6 million | €44.1 million | €82 million |
| 9. | Real Madrid | €20.9 million | €41.4 million | €81 million |
| 10. | Inter | €20.6 million | €33 million | €72 million |
| 11. | Borussia Dortmund | €14.7 million | €36.8 million | €70 million |
| 12. | Bayer Leverkusen | €16.7 million | €34.1 million | €69 million |
| 13. | Atlético Madrid | €18 million | €32.8 million | €69 million |
| 14. | Sporting CP | €33.2 million | €12.4 million | €64 million |
| 15. | Juventus | €18.3 million | €26.2 million | €63 million |
| 16. | Atalanta | €17.7 million | €24 million | €60 million |
| 17. | Monaco | €12.8 million | €23.4 million | €55 million |
| 18. | Newcastle | €19.3 million | €16.3 million | €54 million |
| 19. | Benfica | €11.2 million | €24.2 million | €54 million |
| 20. | Marseille | €9.9 million | €25 million | €53 million |
| 21. | Eintracht Frankfurt | €4 million | €26.1 million | €49 million |
| 22. | Club Brugge | €13.4 million | €16.1 million | €48 million |
| 23. | Napoli | €7.7 million | €21.3 million | €48 million |
| 24. | Olympiacos | €14.4 million | €12.9 million | €46 million |
| 25. | Villarreal | €1.3 million | €25.6 million | €46 million |
| 26. | PSV Eindhoven | €8.3 million | €18.3 million | €45 million |
| 27. | Ajax | €5.7 million | €18.7 million | €43 million |
| 28. | Bodø/Glimt | €11.5 million | €12 million | €42 million |
| 29. | Galatasaray | €13.1 million | €7.1 million | €39 million |
| 30. | Athletic Club | €8 million | €12.1 million | €39 million |
| 31. | Copenhagen | €7.4 million | €11.6 million | €38 million |
| 32. | Union Saint-Gilloise | €9.3 million | €4.8 million | €36 million |
| 33. | Qarabag | €12.5 million | €4.9 million | €33 million |
| 34. | Pafos | €9.6 million | €2.2 million | €30 million |
| 35. | Slavia Prague | €3 million | €8.7 million | €30 million |
| 36. | Kairat Almaty | €1 million | €0.7 million | €21 million |
*Data provided by the Swiss Ramble
Revenue earned from competing in the Champions League is distributed via UEFA’s participation fee (€18.6 million for all 36 clubs), prize money and their value pillar.
Prize money is earned from winning (worth €2.1 million per win) or drawing (€0.7 million) league phase matches, and the club’s final standing in the table. Kairat Almaty, for finishing bottom, received €301,000 while table toppers Arsenal earned €10.8 million. This season, each spot was worth €301,000.
For reaching the last 16 automatically, the top eight received an extra €11 million, while those who qualified for the knockout playoff round earned €1 million.
A perfect league phase record means it’s no surprise that Arsenal top the prize money table with €40.6 million amassed so far. The Gunners won all eight games (eight x €2.1 million = €16.8 million), finished top of the table (€10.8 million), earned a €2 million bonus for a top-eight finish and are guaranteed €11 million for last 16 qualification.
However, they only rank fourth among competing teams for estimated total revenue and that’s primarily because of UEFA’s value pillar—a payout guaranteed before the competition starts. This is a ranking of all 36 clubs based on club market value, five-year UEFA coefficients, which make up the ’European’ part of the pillar, and 10-year UEFA coefficients, constituting the ’Non-European’ part of the pillar.
Swiss Ramble estimates the value pillar to be worth €853 million, with the European part making up 73% of the pie and the Non-European part just 27%. With media markets and coefficients a major factor in determining this ranking, Europe’s elite are, of course, going to benefit the most.
Manchester City are expected to have received the biggest payout (€45.4 million), with Paris Saint-Germain (€44.1 million), Bayern Munich (€43 million), Liverpool (€42.5 million), Real Madrid (€41.4 million), Chelsea (€39.9 million) and Arsenal (€37 million) the next biggest beneficiaries.
The elite’s pockets are lined, but several smaller market clubs with a limited pedigree in modern European football were estimated to receive less than €10 million from the value pillar—Slavia Prague, Galatasaray, Qarabag, Pafos and Kairat. Two of these teams qualified for the playoffs.
The clubs listed above will make most of their Champions League revenue from the equally distributed participation fee, but the big boys earn a whole lot more as part of the ’virtuous cycle’ we mentioned earlier.
Taking into account the participation fee, prize money (including bonuses) and UEFA’s value pillar, Bayern Munich, at the end of the league phase, have made just shy of €100 million. Four more clubs have earned in excess of €90 million, and 20 of the 36 have made at least €50 million. Marseille and Villarreal, both eliminated, earned €53 million and €46 million, respectively. The latter didn’t even win a game.
Kairat have made less than half in revenue than the Yellow Submarine despite boasting an identical record, and that’s primarily because of the value pillar, designed to serve the interests of the continent’s aristocracy.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as 2025-26 Champions League Prize Money: Full List of Earnings for Every Club.
